I'm on the fence. We both have out of country medical through work. We booked the flights on points and are staying a mix of hotels/B&Bs/self catered apartments.

There will be no deaths at home that we will have to hurry home for.

What would you do?

Many credit cards offer trip cancellation if you pay for your airline tickets with them.
Check your cards and their coverage.

My flights were booked on points.

I'd be willing to absorb the loss in your situation.

How much would you lose if you canceled before the trip? The airline's fee for redepositing those miles, maybe $200? Plus any nonrefundable deposit for the self-catering? Would insurance even cover the self-catering if your agreement was person-to-person and not arranged through a licensed business?

Another aspect of insurance to consider is trip interruption, such as for a medical emergency that keeps you away longer (hotel for spouse of hospitalized person, more expensive air tickets for return). For healthy young adults, probably nothing to be concerned about but maybe worth it for older travelers (though getting hit by a car can happen to anyone).

We have never bought a trip cancellation insurance in all our travels to Europe - 3 months in 2009, 6 months in 2008, ~4 months in 2007, so on ........

As we get older, it's something that we consider for the upcoming trip. I count the cost that we could possible loose and decide whether to insure or not.

So far, we have not purchased such insurance. Flights (usually business seats) can be rescheduled and for accomodations we usually stay in vacation rentals with very nice owners who have kind hearts.

Tracey, we were in a similar situation as you - travelling on points, medical coverage through company etc. We felt we could comfortably cover any out of pocket expenses should we need to cancel (hotels, apt. rental etc), until a medical emergency occurred (luckily here at home) which made us realize just how enormous those expenses might be had the emergency happened whilst we were in Italy.

What you do need to consider is the additional expenses for one of you should the other have an emergency out of country (additional hotel, meals, car etc) plus the cost of emergency repatriation (often requiring a medical person to accompany you).

Most airlines will allow you to change the date on awards travel - but only if there are available rewards seats. We always travel BA and in recent years have used their travel insurance as it covers rewards bookings, which most insurance policies do not cover.

We always buy trip cancellation and interruption insurance which my credit card does not cover for people over 65 (and I have separately emergency medical insurance coverage for up to 30 days from my pension plan). Not so much for the cancellation, but for the interruption possibility, which means having to return in the midst of a trip for reasons that are not a medical emergency involving one of us, or both. Even for our matusalemic age, the cost is no more than a couple of good dinners...

We started getting trip cancellation insurance when my parents had medical issues. After that we thought it was a good idea for us--Anything can happen no matter what age you are--- We have heard too many sad stories.
We traveled for many years without it and were lucky, but as with any insurance, you never know when you will need it.
It is not so much to pay for peace of mind.

There is also the issue of lost/delayed luggage.

Delayed luggage I can deal with (we always have essentials in a carry-on) and lost luggage would be covered under my homeowner policy. These are known dollar amounts and not rare occurrences, so I'd skip travel insurance for this (though this coverage is often included with cancellation insurance).

The big, unexpected, costly event is what I insure against--an illness or accident that strikes out of the blue.

I'd also buy cancellation insurance if I were taking a cruise or other fully prepaid trip with harsh cancellation penalties. But I would only purchase it from a third-party insurer, not the tour operator, to be protected in case of operator default.

After having our last three trips canceled or otherwise interrupted, I do not hesitate to buy trip insurance. I factor it into the cost of the trip and don't think another thing about it.
I always carry a copy of the policy with us, leave one with a relative that has access to a fax machine (along with a copy of our passports, and any credit cards we plan to use) and download a copy to my laptop.

It has saved us much money, more than paid for itself.

Jennifer

We have started buying the insurance for the last several trips. Since we could lose out on apartment rental deposits, we make sure we don't leave home without the insurance.

Also, for our recent trip to Santa Monica, we paid for insurance and booked a non-refundable (30% off) rate for our hotel. I wouldn't have wanted to gamble that much money without the insurance.

My husband's mother is 90. So...

Cameron

If I am using points I pay the extra $$'s to insure those points, through the frequent flyer plan when making my flight arrangements, should I have to cancel for whatever reason.

Then we add up all the upfront out of pocket costs and then decide whether or not to purchase the trip canc/interuption insurance.

Often the airfare itself makes the purchase worth it just in case. If we have had to put funds down for deposits or prepay hotels and car rentals that are not refundable we purchase it. If we haven't had to prepay anything or stand to lose equal too or less than the cost of insurance we don't purchase it.

One thing everyone should know though is that for your insurance to pay in the case of deposits or fully paid upfront rental accomos you MUST have a contract that clearly stipulates their cancellation/refund policy.

And of course you cannot make a claim for just cancelling just "because". It must be for a reason outlined in the policy that you've purchased.

When purchasing a policy add up all the prepaid costs and amounts that you stand to lose should you have to cancel to determine the amount of insurance you require. It is of no benefit to be over-insured. You will not be reimbursed for anything that you cannot provide supporting documentation for.

If you have ageing parents with pre-existing illnesses, read the fine print in the policy you are purchasing. If you have to cancel as a result of deteriorating health due to that pre-existing illness for one of them, it may not be covered.

Generally insurance is a good thing. But you should be clear on what your policy will cover you for.

Linda.

Count me in for the insurance, too, including trip interruption. Whenever I've purchased, I've gone through InsureMyTrip . The different plans can look a little daunting on the website, but I've always called and spoken with a representative to help explain - they have been most helpful in assisting me to find exactly what I need and getting me the coverage I need, with all questions answered.

I always fly on FF miles, so airfare cost is minimal. I feel comfortable that if for some reason I had to cancel, I could eat the deposits on the apartments. However, what would be catastrophic to me financially would be a medical evac. Happened to a friend many years ago (car accident in Africa), and it was well over $50k to medevac her out (25 years ago!). Buying insurance is nothing more than a transfer of risk in exchange for a premium. I'm comfortable "self-insuring" for my trip costs, but to buy a good medical policy that includes evacuation generally costs me less than $100, so I personally see that as a good use of my $$. My health insurance does not cover me out of the country. I've never needed it, but I get peace of mind, so its worth it. You just have to do the analysis, the same as you do when you decide how much insurance to buy on your house or car, and what deductibles (risk) to retain.

Anne

My Amex has a plan called Travel assure which costs me very little. It is automatically added whenever I book a trip with my card. About 20 dollars, and with my last trip delay will yield
maybe 1000 back to me. RR

quote:

Originally posted by teaberry:
Count me in for the insurance, too, including trip interruption. Whenever I've purchased, I've gone through InsureMyTrip . The different plans can look a little daunting on the website, but I've always called and spoken with a representative to help explain - they have been most helpful in assisting me to find exactly what I need and getting me the coverage I need, with all questions answered.

When we do get insurance (which is usually for our cruises) we use Insuremytrip.ca. They're a very good company to use, although, I've never had to make a claim.

Medical evac. is definitely not an issue, we're both covered twice, him under mine and mine under his. I think I'll have to go back through all my reservations and determine what the cancellation policy of each is.

Anyone have any experience with Insurance and FF Points? I believe Air Canada's policy is cancelling less than 21 days you forfeit your points....does insurance put a $$$ value on that?

Thanks

Tracey, In our search for a suitable policy we found that most companies do not put a value on points. We fly BA, and their cancellation policy is more generous than AC, however we were concerned about trip interruption. The fear is that there would be no award seats available should we need to return home early.

In our research taking BA insurance was the only way of insuring those points flights. Also, I seem to remember that many policies return you home in economy, regardless of your original ticket class. BA would return us in business.

I am assuming that AC has similar in house insurance.

By the way, from one Vancouverite to another - do you have your red mitts?

quote:

By the way, from one Vancouverite to another - do you have your red mitts?

No red mitts, but I have my contraband Lululemon Team Canada Hoodie

Tracey, we had purchased one airline ticket with FF miles and paid for one with AMEX for our Greece trip that had to be canceled. The trip insurance we had covered the cost to have the FF miles returned to my account, which I think was something like $100 and also reimbursed us for David's ticket. I cannot tell you how happy I was that we had purchased this insurance.

However, Linda made some very important points in her post. Know what you can cancel and the costs you have paid that would need to be reimbursed for, should the need arise. There is no point in overinsuring, unless you just aren't certain of what your final costs will be.


David's mom passed away while we were in NYC last summer and AA was great about working with us to find a quick flight home. They charged us $150 pp (for 4 of us) to make the change but our trip insurance covered it upon our submittal of the claim. Hotel was wonderful in allowing us to leave early, with no penalty.

And, if you're thinking it's just because we were in the US, the hotels and tour guides we had prepaid in Greece, Croatia, and Turkey were equally as amicable. We had prepaid for three tours and all the companies refunded the entire amount to our credit card. So, it pays to do your homework in calculating the dollar amount of insurance you would need.

The Medivac stuff goes without saying. We don't have coverage for such overseas and would never chance it. The older we get, the more one of us falls down.

Jennifer

quote:

Originally posted by Tracey Traveller:
I'm on the fence. We both have out of country medical through work. We booked the flights on points and are staying a mix of hotels/B&Bs/self catered apartments.

There will be no deaths at home that we will have to hurry home for.

Except for my first trip to Europe in 1984, I have never purchased insurance for the simple reason that the insurer will use any and all excuses to avoid paying you. I recall reading an article in a travel magazine many years ago about a man who had a brain tumor and had to cancel his trip, and they refused to pay, because several years before, he had gone to the doctor and complained of a headache. Also, if you are traveling with non-relatives, they won't pay. If there is a hurricane/tornado/blizzard, it's an "act of God".

We have purchased travel insurance for trips to Europe. (My husband had some health issues.) We ended up canceling our last trip to Europe in 2007 due to the death of my m-i-l. I'm not sure the insurance would have paid on her death. But in the mean time, our son was involved in a car accident and required at home care for a few months. This was the reason we gave and his Dr. filled out the required forms. We were reimbursed in full.

Denise

I only purchased trip insurance once and that was because i was dealing with a private party in renting a crewed yacht in the BVI's. We ended up having to cancel due to a hurricane. The trip insurance reimbursed us in full and no hassles! American Airlines put our FF miles back in at no charge. I was so glad i had purchased insurance that time!